Newsline: Canadian ambassador wrestles protester in Ireland

A diplomat hailed a hero worldwide for shooting a gunman who stormed the Canadian parliament has wrestled with a protester at a military ceremony in Ireland. Kevin Vickers helped subdue a demonstrator who began chanting “insult” at the service commemorating more than 100 British soldiers killed trying to suppress the Easter Rising a century ago. Mr Vickers, 59, was attending the State ceremony as Canada’s ambassador to Ireland when a man in his 40s attempted to disrupt it. Dressed in a suit and raincoat, he grabbed the protester by his black leather jacket before police moved in, forced the suspect to the ground and arrested him. The former House of Commons sergeant-at-arms in Ottawa became a household name after confronting rifle-wielding Michael Zehaf-Bibeau on October 22 2014 during a gun fight in the building. After the latest incident, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Dublin said Mr Vickers “intercepted a protester who ran up to the podium”. “Ambassador Vickers is safe and was not injured during the incident,” she added.